Three jailed for trafficking women for sex

Two men and a woman who trafficked people to the UK and forced them into sex work have been jailed.

Wieslaw Michniewicz, 53, Aleksandra Timoszek, 32, and Mariusz Seretny, 45, were each convicted of modern slavery and prostitution offences following a trial at Leeds Crown Court last year.

They were arrested after a police investigation was triggered by an anonymous letter, which was later established to be from one of the victims. The offences were found to have taken place between December 2015 and July 2016.

On Friday, Michniewicz was sentenced to 15 years, while Timoszek was given a seven-and-a-half-year jail term and Seretny was jailed for five years.

Police said that after receiving the letter in July 2016, Polish nationals Michniewicz and Timoszek, who were married at the time, were identified as key suspects.

The pair, who lived at an address in Park View Avenue, Burley, Leeds, targeted vulnerable women, predominantly living in Poland, and offered them legitimate work in the UK.

However, when the women arrived they were told they now had a debt to pay off and were forced into sex work.

The investigation showed how the women had been transported by the couple on a daily basis to massage clubs, including premises in Leeds and Sheffield.

The women were forced to work up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, providing sexual services at the venues, with all the money they earned then handed directly to Michniewicz and Timoszek.

The pair were assisted by Michniewicz's cousin Mariusz Seretny, who was living at Grange Close, Hunslet.

Evidence linked him to travel bookings, advertisements on sex work websites and money transfers out of the UK, according to police.

Officers arrested Michniewicz and Timoszek at their home address on 14 September 2016 on suspicion of offences relating to modern slavery.

Several women were found at the address and safeguarded by police.

Items recovered from the property included £16,000 in cash, mobile phones and handwritten ledgers detailing the earnings and debt for each of the women.

The investigation identified 14 victims aged between 17 and 31 who had been targeted.

The youngest was brought to the UK while only 17 and was put to work in a brothel the day after her eighteenth birthday, police said.

Analysis of handwritten ledgers recovered at the address showed that prostitution of the 11 victims had generated about £170,000 over the period of the offences.

CCTV footage from the house showed the victims being driven off by Michniewicz and Timoszek on a daily basis and the pair depositing sums of cash in the safe on their return.

Three luxury sports cars – a Porsche Panamera, a Porsche Carrera and an Audi R8 – were also seized from the couple.

A decision to charge them was made in February 2023, by which time Michniewicz and Timoszek had fled the country and had to be traced and extradited back the UK ahead of their trial in November 2025.

They were all found guilty by a jury in December.

Michniewicz, Timoszek and Seretny were each convicted of conspiracy to arrange or facilitate the travel of another person with a view to exploitation; conspiracy to incite another person to become a prostitute for gain; conspiracy to control prostitution for gain; and two counts of controlling prostitution for gain in relation to two individual victims.

Seretny's wife, Marta, 41, was also found guilty of one count of conspiracy to control prostitution for gain.

She was given a 12-month community order and ordered to undertake 80 hours of unpaid work.

After the sentencing hearing, Det Supt Helen Steele said the defendants had "cruelly targeted vulnerable women" and "preyed on their hopes of a better life".

"Instead, the victims found themselves being controlled and forced into sex work, where they were relentlessly exploited and treated purely as commodities to make money from," she said.

The victims "suffered harrowing experiences" and had been left "traumatised", Steele added.

"We hope it will help them in some way to know that those responsible have now been brought to justice."

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